We belong to the best gym ever

Ok, so I said my next post would include pictures of the apartment. I lied. What I really feel like writing about is our gym. Yes, you heard me correctly. I actually feel like writing about our GYM. Because it's the best! And that's why I've posted the two photos above, because they are just so fitting: me, casually getting water...Kyle, working his butt off. Oh, how I love going to the gym.

Kyle found Recreate Fitness online and it's run by a husband-and-wife trainer team, Nathan and Tina Jeffers, who truly believe that getting fit is all about getting back the basics of things you used to do in gym class when you were young. (because, when we were little, we actually enjoyed exercising..it didn't feel like exercise!). There's no stairmasters, treadmills, or ellipticals (actually, there's no machines at all, except for rowing machines). In fact, there isn't room for any of that stuff, since the gym is basically a garage set up with some outdoor driveway space. It's all class-based, so you join about 12 other members in an hour long workout that consists of three parts: 1) warm up 2) skills, where Nathan and Tina take the time to walk around and help everyone with their technique; and 3) the "workout of the day," which is sometimes as long as half an hour, sometimes as short as 10 minutes. This is the kick-your-butt part.

It's been a great place for Kyle and I to join, because it's truly a community - people hang out with each other on the weekends, get together for a monthly group hike (come on, we live in Portland) and Nathan and Tina hold a semi-annual "customer appreciation" cookout at their place - word is one is coming up soon, so that should be fun! All in all, it's a very encouraging atmosphere...especially for the two of us, who don't know many people here.

Take, for instance, the following email that I received from Nathan and Tina the day after I thought I was going to lose my cookies after the workout:

Hi Lee...I wanted to check in and see how your feeling. I know the last couple of workouts have been a little rough for you. Last nights workout was very hard for everyone who did it. You may not feel like it but you are moving and squatting much better. We've seen a lot of progress already. Keep up the good work and thanks for being part of the gym. Nathan & Tina

I mean, how great is that?!

In any case, they have a great website which you should check out: http://www.recreatefitness.com/; as well as there own - yep, you guessed it - blog, where they update daily with pictures of all of us hard working gym goers.